Another Edition of Grim Reaper’s Gaming News is here. Few games being updates, expansion announcements, upcoming DLC, and more are covered below. Plenty to talk about in mid January.
Resident Evil Available for Pre-Load
Resident Evil HD Remaster, the remake of a remake, is available for pre-load on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One now, and also for pre-order on Steam.
Resident Evil releases Jan. 20 on $20/£16 for PC, PS4, PS3 Xbox One and Xbox 360. However, players who pre-purchase the remake through Steam will receive two items: a soundtrack with more than 30 tracks, and a digital art book, the former of which is shown through the eyes of George Trevor, the iconic Spencer Mansion’s architect.
The upcoming remake also features cross-buy support for PS3 and PS4 –– but only for players who pre-order the game. Assuming the pre-load support works smoothly at release, these players should be able to play the title on either console come Jan. 20.
Composer Teases “Huge Year” for Rare
Composer and Sound Designer for Rare Ltd. Robin Beanland has dropped some hints that 2015 may be a big year for the developer.
“This is a HUGE year for Rare…and these notes,” he said on Twitter, adding an image of sheet music in the tweet.
Rare was last said to be “evaluating” what they would be doing next after Microsoft announced the Xbox One would no longer be bundled with the Kinect 2.0. The studio behind Kinect Sports and Kinect Sports Rivals, Rare has been focusing on motion-controlled gaming for the last few years.
Xbox chief Phil Spencer explained that they were considering some new ideas and had some games in the works, but did not yet have anything to announce.
Star Citizen Passes $69 Million in Funding
(Will it ever end?)
Star Citizen is on its way to $70 million in funding, and creator Chris Roberts shared his plans and hopes for the new year in a recent developer blog post.
As of this writing, Star Citizen has raised a little more than $69 million on its crowdfunding site, and continues to extend the record it set last year. A new stretch goal has yet to be announced, but upon passing $65 million, Cloud Imperium Games began to add Enhanced Ship Modularity, a system that will allow players to refit and customize certain ships.
“2014 has been a huge year for star Citizen,” Roberts said in the New Years letter. “It’s a project that is being built not just by 300 developers, but a project that is being built by hundreds of thousands of gamers that love PC games, that love space games and want to see a game made RIGHT, one that has such depth and ambition that they can see themselves happily adventuring for years to come.”
Roberts said the number of Star Citizen backers doubled in 2014, helping to raise $33M in additional funding, bringing the total funds since Oct. 10, 2012 to just over $68.5M. He also cited the engaged Star Citizen community, and the developer’s transparency during the space sim’s creation, as driving factor’s for the project’s massive popularity.
“I have never had so much fun building a game and if you asked any Star Citizen developer they will probably agree with me,” Roberts writes. “We love the process of creating this game lock step with all of you out there. We are continually amazed by the creativity and enthusiasm of the community.”
Roberts and his team revealed Star Citizen’s first-person module at PAX Australia last year, as well as the addition of a pet system in November, allowing players to have animal companions onboard their star ships, whether they be traditional or extra-terrestrial pets.
Grim Fandango Now Available for Pre-Order
The remastered version of LucasArts’ critically-acclaimed 1998 adventure game Grim Fandango is now available for pre-order on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, PC, Mac, and Linux.
First announced at the Sony E3 2014 press conference, this remastered version of Grim Fandango features high-res character textures, a re-recorded score, developer commentary, and new lighting, among others. It is scheduled to release on January 27 for $15 USD. For more information on pre-ordering, check out the official website.
Sony Announces PSN Maintenance This Week
Sony has announced the PlayStation Network will be offline for four hours to enable scheduled maintenance, beginning at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm GMT on Thursday 15.
During the maintenance, you’ll be unable to access the PS Store, PSN account management or registration and entertainment services. Online gameplay will also be unavailable, though you can get around this by signing into your account before the maintenance kicks off.
PS4 Now Bundled With The Last of Us in North America
Sony has announced the 500GB PlayStation 4 console bundle will now include The Last of Us: Remastered at no additional cost in North America.
The PS Blog explains the new PS4 bundle should start appearing in stores in the next few days, costing $399.99 as usual. There’s no word on whether other territories will be mirroring the offer, but we’ve reached out to regional PR to try and find out more.
GTA 5 PC Release Date Delayed and System Specifications Announced
Rockstar has announced Grand Theft Auto V will release on PC on March 24, not on January 27 as previously thought, and also released the system specifications for the title.
The long-awaited PC version of the game will come replete with support for up to triple monitor configurations, as well as NVidia 3D Vision. As you’d expect, it runs at 1080p and 60fps with up to 4K resolution. You can see examples of these high-end graphics in the brand new screenshots, below.
“Thanks everyone for your understanding and we assure you these few extra weeks will be worth it when the game does arrive in March.”
What’s even more interesting, however, is the brief mention that Online Heists will be arriving on the console versions of the game “in the coming weeks ahead of the PC launch.”
As for the system requirements, here they are:
Minimum specifications:
- OS: Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1, Windows Vista 64 Bit Service Pack 2* (*NVIDIA video card recommended if running Vista OS)
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs) / AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core Processor (4 CPUs) @ 2.5GHz
- Memory: 4GB
- Video Card: NVIDIA 9800 GT 1GB / AMD HD 4870 1GB (DX 10, 10.1, 11)
- Sound Card: 100% DirectX 10 compatible
- HDD Space: 65GB
- DVD Drive
Recommended specifications:
- OS: Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1
- Processor: Intel Core i5 3470 @ 3.2GHZ (4 CPUs) / AMD X8 FX-8350 @ 4GHZ (8 CPUs)
- Memory: 8GB
- Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 660 2GB / AMD HD7870 2GB
- Sound Card: 100% DirectX 10 compatible
- HDD Space: 65GB
- DVD Drive
Alien: Isolation Safe Haven DLC Detailed
SEGA has announced Alien: Isolation‘s third DLC pack, Safe Haven, is available today and revealed exactly what it adds.
The publisher has explained the third of five expected bundles adds the Salvage Challenge, a new way to play Survivor Mode asking you to complete a series of ten challenges without dying as the clock ticks down and waves of enemies assault you.
As is the case with the other add-on packs, Safe Haven will also add a new playable character. This time around you’ll be able to take charge of Hughes, Sevastopol Station’s Communications Manager. He’s trapped in a safe room on the lower decks of the Station, and has to complete the ten tasks to restore communications and get out.
Heart of Thorns the new Guild Wars 2’s Expansion?
NCSoft has registered a trademark for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, leading to speculation that an announcement about an expansion for the popular MMO could be imminent.
Reddit users spotted the filing, which even comes replete with a pretty legit-looking logo. It’s no secret developer ArenaNet is planning to attend PAX South in force this year, with both game director Colin Johanson and studio president Mike O’Brien holding a panel on January 24 titled “Past the Point of No Return”.
Since launch, Guild Wars 2‘s story has been expanded upon via a series of regular “Living World” updates, each adding new content to the buy-to-play game. Seeing as the finale of the second season of the Living World is available from today and is titled “Point of No Return”, it’s safe to assume the panel will be discussing what’s next. Increasingly, that’s looking like an expansion.
Destiny Update Arrives With Crota’s End Raid Fixes
Bungie rolled out a new Destiny update today, introducing Crota’s End Raid adjustments, weapon tweaks, PVP playlist additions and more.
Crota’s End Raid received fixes across all Encounters, including the Crota Encounter where the boss will now recover from his kneeling state after a player quits and fixes a bug that allowed players to remove the “Presence of Crota” using a Radiance Warlock’s Fireborn ability.
The update also includes preparations for Iron Banner’s scheduled return on Tuesday, January 13 at 1:00 a.m. PST. The updated final patch notes are listed in full below the video:
Activity Rewards
- Fixed an issue with Ascendant Materials no longer being a possible reward for Daily gold-tier public events
- In addition to other potential rewards, Weekly Nightfall Strikes can now award 9 or more Strange Coins
PVP Maps Added to the rotation for Control, Clash, and Iron Banner* playlists:
- The Anomaly
- Asylum
- The Burning Shrine
Iron Banner*
- Starts 1AM PST, Tuesday, January 13th
- Playlist weapon drops
- Level 32 Sniper Rifle
- Level 32 Auto Rifle
- Gain event standing to earn Legendary gear
- Level 32 Hand Cannon
- Level 32 Rocket Launcher
- Level 32 Gauntlets
- Level 31 Chest
Weapons
- On the Sniper Rifle, Black Hammer, the Hive Breaker upgrade has been disabled until it is fixed to play nicely with the White Nail upgrade
Raids Vault of Glass
- Exotic weapon drops (though still very infrequent) are now Level 32
Crota’s End
Rewards
- Treasure chests now contain Radiant Materials
- The existing Pit treasure chest reward has moved to killing Ir Yut, the Deathsinger
Pit Encounter
-
Pillars of Light no longer launch players into the air when they explode
Bridge Encounter
- Players will now be required to cross the bridge in order to complete the bridge encounter
- Players will now be required to wait for the bridge to be completed prior to crossing with the sword
Deathsinger Encounter
- Fixed a rare case where the Shriekers would not spawn, preventing players from reaching the Deathsinger
- The Deathsinger now has a chance to drop Exotic weapons and armor, class pieces, and Radiant materials
Crota Encounter
- Two Swordbearers will no longer spawn at the same time at the outset of the encounter
- Crota will now recover from his kneeling state after a player quits
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to remove the “Presence of Crota” using a Radiance Warlock’s Fireborn ability
- Fixed a bug that made the Oversoul appear destroyed to some players in a Fireteam when it was actually still active
Phantom Dust is a JRPG With a 30 Hour-Long Campaign
Microsoft Stuios’ Creative Director Ken Lobb has revealed new details about the upcoming Xbox One exclusive Phantom Dust.
The reimagining of 2005’s card-strategy-action game is “about a 30 hour JRPG,” Lobb revealed on The Inner Circle Podcast. He wants to make sure the campaign does a good job of retelling, and improving, the original game’s story. Lobb believes the story was “one of the strengths of the game,” and feels it’s best to retell that story, as “only like 60,000 people ever saw it.”
Lobb says that the Phantom Dust reboot will correct the mistakes of the 2005 cult hit. “One really big flaw: if you started playing this game, you had no idea it was an arena game until you played three to six hours.” He adds that the game began with too much focus on the story, which hid the fact that “you were gonna be fighting using these decks of cards.”
To correct this, Lobb wants to make sure players are playing PvP before six hours, and have “viable decks” before the fifteen hour mark.
The Phantom Dust reboot was revealed during last year’s E3. Many found the announcement surprising since, as Lobb referenced earlier, the game didn’t sell particularly well. Despite this, Lobb feels it’s an important game to bring back, saying the game was “way ahead of its time.” He added, “This game was better than it was rated. It’s a game that not enough people got to see.”
According to Lobb, Microsoft is still undecided on how it wants to sell Phantom Dust, saying “gamers might not want to go out and take a sixty dollar risk.” While no decision has been made, Lobb says the company believes the Killer Instinct pay model would “make sense” with Phantom Dust.
New Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Havoc DLC Release Date Announced
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare‘s newest downloadable content has been given a release date of January 27, 2015.
Called the Havoc DLC, this pack includes four multiplayer maps, the AE4 directed energy assault rifle, a custom AE4 Widowmaker weapon variant, and new zombies to fight in the Exo Zombies cooperative mode.
Core, the first of the DLC maps, takes place in the ruins of a nuclear fusion plant in the Gobi desert. The second map, Urban, is a close-quarters map set in Dallas Ward 3, while the third map, Sideshow, is set in a creepy abandoned inn in Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. The fourth and final map, Drift, takes place in a ski resort and features an avalanche timed event.
Exo Zombies features a celebrity voice cast and tells the story of four Atlas employees fighting a horde of zombies brought about by a DNA bioweapon. John Malkovich, Bill Paxton, Rose McGowan, and Jon Bernthal lend their voices and likeness to the cooperative story mode.
The Havoc DLC pack will be available for purchase first on Xbox Live for $15 USD. At this time, no other platform release dates have been announced.
DmC: Definitive Edition Release Date Moved Up
Capcom will release DmC: Definitive Edition a week earlier than planned – March 10th instead of March 17th, on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It will cost $40 / €40.
Ninja Theory announced the new, earlier release date on Twitter today.
DmC: Definitive Edition brings a number of changes to the original DmC: Devil May Cry that Ninja Theory says it “never got the chance to” make during its initial production.
The game will run at 60 frames per second in 1080p, with improved textures. It comes with all the DLC for DmC: Devil May Cry, including more character and weapons skins, and the additional Vergil’s Downfall chapter. Several balance tweaks and other changes recommended by the community have also been added to the game, including a much-desired manual target lock feature.
Banjo-Kazooie, Battletoads, Perfect Dark to Return ‘Someday’
Microsoft plans on bringing back classic franchises such as Banjo-Kazooie, Battletoads, Viva Piñata, and more “someday,” according to Microsoft Studios’ Creative Director Ken Lobb.
“Will there ever be another Banjo, Viva, Blast Corps, Battletoads? Yeah, someday,” Lobb said during an interview on The Inner Circle Podcast. Lobb added that there is a lot of passion for each of these franchises internally at Microsoft.
Lobb emphasized the importance of building games people love by digging back into older IP, while also developing more recent sequels. However, he wants to make sure Microsoft is able to find developers that are passionate about each IP, saying, “The best games come from teams that really wanna build something.”
The creative director also praised Xbox Head Phil Spencer‘s understanding of an IP’s value. “Not just in terms of, ‘let’s go make a new one every year.’ But in terms of, ‘let’s go think about the portfolio and what makes the most sense at the right time.'”
Rumors about popular Rare franchises returning have circulated following Microsoft’s trademark filing for Battletoads and Rare’s composer teasing a “huge” year for the developer. According to Lobb, Microsoft secured the trademark because it knows the title holds value.
“Does that mean it’s coming this year? No. Does that mean it’ll never come? Absolutely not.”
Another franchise Lobb spoke of was the spiritual successor to Goldeneye, Perfect Dark. “We have these discussions all the time about ‘hey, what should we bring back.’ Perfect dark and Joanna dark is in that discussion a lot.”
Lobb did clarify that, at this time, a Perfect Dark game is not in development. He did, however, suggest if the series were to return, it would possibly be as a third-person shooter or stealth game. He added he would like to see more of a focus on story and the game’s protagonist, Joanna Dark.
Rebel Galaxy Coming to Xbox One, Mac
Space adventure game Rebel Galaxy is headed to Xbox One and Mac in 2015, developer Double Damage Games announced today.
Previously announced for PlayStation 4 and PC, Rebel Galaxy mixes space exploration, adventure, and combat. Players take control of the commander of an immensely powerful star destroyer in the lawless Rift. Here, you’ll fight pirates, explore anomalies, form alliances with aliens, scavenge wreckage, mine asteroids, and discover artifacts.
The Xbox One and Mac versions of the game are already “up and running,” according to the developer.
Check Out the PlayStation 20th Anniversary Sale
As part of its ongoing 20th anniversary celebration, the PlayStation Store is slashing the prices of more than 60 titles ranging from the PS4 to PS1 Classics.
Starting today through January 19, select games for the PS4, PS3, PS Vita, PSP, PS2, and PS1 will be up to 60%, with PS Plus members enjoying up to 75% off.
Thats all for now,
– Audible Silence